1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive body in which the door opening panels are formed from tailor welded blanks having different thicknesses of steel combined into a single assembly for use in a stamping press to form the left and right side door opening panels. The blanks are welded along a horizontal seam which is covered in one embodiment by a door and a pickup box, which is shingled over a portion of the cab, thereby eliminating the need for added metal finishing of the weld seam.
2. Disclosure Information
Automotive bodies, particularly those used in sedans and pickup trucks, typically use door opening panels for the purpose of framing the doorways for passenger ingress and egress. Such door opening panels typically comprise several stampings welded into a complete assembly. Because of the requirements for managing energy in the event of a vehicle collision, door opening panels frequently require multiple reinforcements in the area of the door sills and other parts of the panel. Such reinforcements are provided at a great deal of expense because the reinforcement must be separately tooled, stamped, and welded to the door opening panel. Of course, spot welds which are visible often give rise to the need for expensive secondary metal finishing operations. Moreover, the quality control process is rendered much more difficult because a high percentage of the spot welds needed for the reinforcements must have high integrity in order for the finished vehicle to meet various customer requirements.
The present door opening panel solves the problems associated with prior art door opening panels by providing a heavier gauge thickness of metal in a lower portion of a blank used to form the door opening panel, and a lighter gauge portion of metal on the upper part of the blank Advantageously, the weld line or seam between the upper and lower portions of the door opening panel blank is concealed in the final construction to a very great extent by the hinges used to mount doors to the door opening panel, or by other hardware.